A city police officer accused of driving drunk and crashing into three parked vehicles Wednesday night has a history of speeding tickets and refusing to take a blood alcohol test amid suspicion of driving while impaired.
Officer Paul V. Khoury, 44, of Brockton also refused to take a blood alcohol test after the most recent incident and will lose his license for a year. He was off-duty at the time of the 10:45 p.m. Wednesday accident.
Khoury had slurred speech, and a police sergeant at the crash scene detected a “slight odor of alcohol” on his breath after the crash on Rockland Street, according to papers filed in Brockton District Court.
Khoury pleaded innocent at his arraignment Thursday to charges of operating under the influence, a second offense, and failure to use care while driving. He was freed on personal recognizance. The case was continued to Aug. 11.
Khoury, who became a police officer in July 1997, was taken after the crash to Caritas Good Samaritan Medical Center, where he refused a blood alcohol test, according to court papers.
As a result, his driver’s license has been suspended for one year for refusing to take the test.
In 1990, Khoury lost his license for 120 days for refusing to take the blood-alcohol test, according to the state Registry of Motor Vehicles.
Khoury went through a DWI alcohol program in Yarmouth in 1984. Both cases occurred before Khoury became a police officer.
Khoury’s driving record also includes speeding tickets in 1990, 1991 and 1984 in Bourne, Brockton and Yarmouth, a surchargable accident in 2001 in Easton and failure to display his license plate in 1991, according to Registry records.
A surchargable accident means his auto insurance premium was raised for a period of time.
Police Chief William Conlon said Khoury will be working inside the station and will not be on the street while the case is pending.
Conlon said Khoury, who normally works the day shift in dispatch, was off-duty and driving his personal vehicle at the time.
In the crash, one parked vehicle was pushed through a fence, while another was spun around on the street, witnesses to the aftermath said.
“Everything was a mess,” said Paula Gebrayel, whose son’s vehicle was struck. “It looked like a war zone.”
She said the impact knocked the wheels off cars and left her son’s vehicle totaled.
She said her son, Michael, had just parked his Jeep on the street and was walking into a friend’s yard when the crash occurred.
“A minute earlier, he would have been in his car,” she said.
She said she was stunned by the damage to the vehicles.
“I couldn’t imagine how anybody could have made it through that,” she said.
Khoury told officers he was driving north on Rockland Street and hit his gas pedal by mistake, causing him to lose control of his vehicle, according to papers filed in court.
He said he had “only” two beers about two hours before the crash, the court papers noted.
Khoury was taken to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries and then arrested, the chief said. Khoury was bailed from the hospital.
“We had probable cause to make an arrest,” Conlon said.
The chief declined to say what the probable cause was.
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